Chaos Emerald in Darkness
by M. Castor
Summary: After settling in a vacant home, too far from Moonlight Town, our heroine is confronted by two mysterious people, one quite amiable and the other choleric. Read after THE PROLOGUE OF RESOLUTE HEARTS  There's a tiny amount of Sonicish here
1. Chapter 1

**Enjoy! **

I hear the whooshing of a breeze hitting my face.

"Mia, take my hand!" a familiar voice commands. I open my eyes, surprised what I'm opening them up to. Somehow, I'm surrounded by grey and below me is a gaping hole which I am falling to. Fortunately, I'm not alone, for there is another person across from me.

"Mia, take my hand!" Seth reiterates with his hand stretched out to mine.

"What're we doing here? Seth, I thought you-" I yell over the wind.

"Mia, take my hand!"

I extend my hand to him, eager to grasp his. We're getting nearer to the hole below-I don't have a lot of time. With a loud grunt, I squeeze his fingertips; his hand instantly locks around mine. Suddenly, we're both on our feet in a black void.

With his hand still holding mine, he says, "You did it Mia. _Now you can come with me_." Black plasma moves up his feet, gradually devouring his face.

"…Seth?" I try to pull my hand back, but it's stuck in his. "Please let me go. I don't want this."

He continues to grin as his whole lower body is swarmed with black muck. All that's left of him is his arm; the muck rapidly slithers down his arm, aiming at mine. I grunt as I try to yank my hand out again.

"Stop it Seth!" I cry out in vain.

As soon as the muck gets in my hand, my whole body is devoured by the darkness. The monsters with the yellow eyes watch me struggle ravenously in the darkness, waiting to make their move. My throat tightens-I can't breathe.

I'm going to die.

My eyes pop open and I gasp loudly. I'm no longer drowning in darkness with Seth-no, Seth wasn't with me. I was drowning in the darkness _alone_. Please, let this not be a troublesome omen of things to come.

"This isn't my bed," I realize aloud. Landing on my toes, I drop out of bed and glance around the bedroom, disheartened by the unfamiliarity of the bedroom. Please let this be a horrible nightmare.

As I explore the house in morning daylight, I close my eyes and wait to wake up. In the bathroom, I wash up, using a washcloth to wipe the dried dirt off my face. My bloodshot eyes tiredly look at my reflection in the mirror.

"This is…reality," the words come out more as a question than a statement.

Some part of me wants to burst into tears and whimper in the corner-the other part wants to venture outside this house and find Seth.

Something heavy bangs against the door. My heart nearly jumps out of its chest. What if it's the people who live here? They'll know I took the key…they'll think I tried robbing them.

Quickly and nervously, I step down the spiral staircase, racing to the banging door. Before opening the door, I take in a deep breath and exhale, preparing to face whoever it is on the other side of this door. Gently, I turn the knob and push the door.

"M-may I help you?" I ask the two people. There is boy who looks around the age of seventeen with a black leather jacket, decorated with a dozen brass bands and a red emblem on his chain and then there's a girl wearing a snug maroon spandex suit with shoulder-length hair.

The dark-haired boy seems surprised at me for some unknown reason, startling me. His expression shifts quickly to vexation.

"Why hi there," the girl in maroon spandex says, breaking the silence. "My name's Topaz."

"Good morning to both of you," I reply, avoiding the boy's terrifying glare. "Er, do you live here?"

"Course not," Topaz shook her head then looked at the boy. "Are you gonna say anything?"

He continues to glower at me.

"My name is Mia," I nervously say, shaking hands with Topaz. I extend my hand to the boy, but all he does is give me a scary look with his intimidating red eyes.

"Don't be shy now," Topaz nudges the boy's shoulder.

"We don't have time for this," the boy finally speaks. "Find us the Chaos Emerald."

It's my turn to be surprised. This boy is giving me a frightful feeling that he could possibly do _bad things_.

"Can you explain why you're here, please?"

"Tch."

"Well, we're looking for Chaos Emeralds, these really pretty, pretty gems that shine really bright, and you can sense them."

"How?"

"…"

"Beats me."

Why are these people coming to me to help them in the first place? They should be asking someone who knows these "Chaos Emeralds".

"I think you've got the wrong person. I'm sorry but I don't think I can help you-"

The boy takes a step toward me menacingly; his terrifying glare leaves me petrified at the door.

"You don't have a choice," says the boy with a sangfroid tone. My eyes shut as I turn away from his terrible gaze. Please, please, let me feel something, or else I'm going to die. Please…

In the midst of hoping this man doesn't do anything to me, an unfamiliar feeling in my head overcomes me. There's something very bright and…full of some energy. But it's far from here-is this the Chaos Emerald these two are talking about?

"…the poor girl isn't going to help us," Topaz's muffled voice gradually becomes clear. When I open my eyes, the boy is still over me and seems angrier than when I opened the door to him.

"I feel something really far away. Is that your 'Chaos Emerald'?" I mumble in fear that he might punch me for acknowledging him.

"It's not your concern. Just take us to where it is."

"Alright, we practically have a Chaos Emerald in our hands!" Topaz cheers behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

"_This is it?" Topaz asked as she banged on the door. _

"_Shouldn't you have asked before knocking?"_

_She stuck her tongue out childishly. I cut my eyes and focused on the approaching footsteps to the door. I heard a quiet sigh, and then the door opened. The girl-_

_No, there's no way-why does she resemble her?_

"_M-may I help you?"_

_The pieces of the past flash flooded my mind. My body was struggling to keep its composure as I gazed at the girl at the door. Whatever Topaz was saying, I couldn't hear her or the other girl. Finally, the inner tumult quelled, and Angelica's body vanished._

"…_be shy now," Topaz nudged me gently. The girl at the door was practically ducking my gaze and keeping her eyes on Topaz, occasionally glancing at me. _

"_We don't have time for this. Find us the Chaos Emerald," I said, interrupting the girls' drivel._

'

"You have your head up in the clouds today," Topaz waves her hands in my face obnoxiously. "Do you even know what's go-"

"Shut up," I move past Topaz and step in front of the girl. "What're we doing here?"

"Um…" the girl apprehensively utters. "I feel a gap between…the Emerald and, um me. I feel it behind the tree."

Without me being fully aware of it, she led us to one of the many parks in Westopolis, which happens to be practically empty today.

"And we're trying to figure _what_ it is," Topaz adds.

"Circle the tree," I command the girl who keeps her head down. Obediently, she starts to circle the tree and then disappears into thin air, startling me and Topaz.

"She disappeared!"

Just as I thought, it's an invisible portal. "Go ahead, do the same."

Topaz warily obeys-it's even a surprise she's not defying me-and as I assumed, she vanishes. It's definitely not the only portal around here, so how can three adolescent girls cause portals to tear open like this? The Doctor never brought them up prior to last night-the m

I enter the invisible portal and in a sudden flash, the trees and greenery are swallowed up by a white void. My feet hover over the white ground for five seconds, and then land gently on firm ground. There are towering walls made of rock on our left and right and a low cave ten feet away from us. Next to the entrance is a sign reading: _DANGER. TURN BACK._

"Still feeling the Chaos Emerald?" Topaz asks the girl, who leans against the rock wall from travel exhaustion. The girl places her hand on her temple and closes her eyes tight, then opens them with a disappointed sigh. My head suddenly tingles with a familiar feeling.

"I…I don't feel it anymore. I'm really so-"

"I feel it," I affirm, staring into the cave. Other than the Chaos Emerald, I'm receiving something negative from inside.

"Okay, so do we leave her out here?" asks Topaz.

"No. We don't need her running away and alerting the police."

Even though the girl stays quiet, her concerned and sullen countenance is difficult to ignore. Angelica's face is summoned in my mind yet again; I shake her out and follow behind the two girls.

We proceed inside the pitch black cave, cautiously stepping on the slippery rocks. The deeper we go, the more the light from the entrance fades away. That shouldn't be happening, this cave cannot be that deep. It shouldn't matter now, the Chaos Emerald is so close.

"Urg!" cries Topaz exasperatedly. "Let go-!"

Black claws wrap themselves around her feet, keeping her pinned to the ground. As the girl turns her attention to Topaz's shout, another set of claws from the ceiling snatches her shoulders and yanks her up. I catch of glimpse of tiny yellow eyes and W-shaped mouths covering the ceiling and ground.

* * *

><p>Some sort of womanly figure, who is as black as licorice, rises from the ground and proceeds to wrap another set of claws around Topaz with a zig zaggy grin. I thrash in the sharp claws of the same monsterwoman who has me nailed to ceiling but it's in vain.<p>

"A little help here!" cries Topaz as she struggles in the grasp of the monsterwoman. Not a sound is able to escape from my throat as its claws start scratching at my chest. My eyes jump from Topaz to the boy with the scary look, who's monsterwoman about to trap him too.

"Watch out, behind you!" is all I can cry out in my mind because I'm in so much pain, I can't talk. I watch the boy's next set of actions in anxiety.

One of the brass bands on his jacket sleeve rolls off and immediately enlarges. With a swift flick of his hand, the band, which now resembles more of a ring, slams directly into the monsterwoman's face, making her disappear into black vapor. On his other sleeve, another ring slides off and strikes the one holding Topaz and the one holding me. It nearly hits me, but it successfully destroys the monsterwoman. I drop to ground roughly, quickly getting to my feet.

"Follow me!" the boy orders as he zooms past us with incredible speed, and with one large ring behind him and in front. Topaz lets me go in front of her, spin kicks another monster behind me, and stays behind me. It's amazing to see the boy move so fast, even _I_ can't keep up with him.

Like an experienced acrobat, before many of the monsters could surface from the walls, he is leaping on each one, and using the rings to clear his way and ours. Occasionally, he'll punch a couple with enough force to destroy this cave!

I see a greyish faint light radiating in front of us. Could that be the Chaos Emerald? The boy speeds up; I freeze once I see a swarm of the monsters creating a wall to block us from the Emerald. Two black claws carry the Emerald in its palms, but yet why is he _speeding_ up?

"There's-!" I try to warn him. With amazing speed, the spinning ring behind him leaps adjacent to the other one, both of them glow golden, and they fly right into the wall of monsters. They all disappear instantly and the light becomes apparent and bright. The boy snatches a grey-colored gem before it hits the ground and holds both hands out.

"Quick, grab his hand before it's too late," Topaz says as she hurries past me and holds his arm. Suddenly, another black claw grabs my ankle and I'm left struggling to escape.

"Chaos…" the boy starts.

"Mia!"

I won't be left in here with these monsters! I still have to find Seth before I lose him forever. Finally, I yank my leg hard enough for it to let go and charge into the boy.

"Control!"

In a flash, we're on the path leading up to the house I've been staying in. No more monsters are around us, and no more darkness-thank goodness. But even worse than that is landing on top of this extraordinary boy who likes to give me petrifying stares. His two rings shrink and retreat back to his sleeves.

The boy's knee juts into my abdomen mercilessly and coldly shoves me off him. He and Topaz get to their feet, and the boy pulls back his sleeve and turns on a button on his watch.

"The first Chaos Emerald has been retrieved," he says to the watch.

"Excellent work. Is the girl with you?"

I'm shocked to hear the watch talk back. I've never heard of a talking watch before.

"Yes." Then he glances at me with indifferent eyes. My body trembles with adrenaline from that terrifying experience, his knee jab, and the feeling those creatures in the caves felt _familiar_ to me. Could they be related to the same ones that attacked my home two nights ago?

"Good. The girl's mind should be fatigued from concentrating on pinpointing the location of the Chaos Emerald. Save the next one for tomorrow, we're not in a rush."

Shakily, I stand up and dare to look at him in the face for the third time today. "Th-thank you for-"

"I didn't do it to help you," he hastily, yet coldly, cuts me off. "Your death would have been inconvenient."

Such brutal words would traumatize any other person he said that to. But when I was growing up, people told me things like that all the time, so I reply with an affirming nod.

"We'll be back tomorrow, so run along home now," Topaz suggests with a hand flick.

"Ok. H-have a good evening."

I politely turn and head down the path to the house. Despite all of what I've been through today, I still couldn't find Seth. What if he's in a place like the one I encountered today? He could be in serious trouble, and I can't do anything about it…I'm pathetic.

As I lift my head, a greyish figure stands a couple of feet away from the house. My eyes widen as I get closer.

The word flows tentatively, "Seth?"

The boy turns around gradually, confirming my hopeful assumption.

"I've been looking for you everywhere, Mia."

"Seth!"

I run into his arms and collapse in them. He returns the hug generously, swaying back and forth from my tackle. I can't believe I found him-I thought the worst! What an overwhelming sense of relief…

"I thought I lost you forever," I whimper tearfully. "You disappeared, and I was scared."

"I'm sorry," replies Seth guiltily. "You vanished, and I couldn't find you. I was roaming around, and ended up here. For some reason, I had thought you were in that house. I won't leave you."

I sigh contently and smile, which is something I haven't done since Moonlight Town. Seth, I won't let us depart again-_it felt too painful to be living in a world without you._

* * *

><p>"Aw, she's got a boyfriend. I thought she was one of those girls who would never have the experience," Topaz comments, smirking at the girl and boy holding each other.<p>

"Tch." I turn to the street with crossed arms.

"Jealous?"

"Of that naïve, pathetic girl?"

"Hey, she's kinda nice if you get to know her. Then again, you were just glaring at her as if she drowned your cat."

"…looking at them makes me sick. Especially that guy."

**Sorry this took forever to put up. Internet issues have kept me at bay. Let me hear your thoughts!**


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